Mid Modern Artists and Styles
World War 2 and it's Influence in the Arts
The second World War was indeed a horrific conflict, which lasted 6 years from 1939 to 1945. During this time, a lot of artists created some powerful pieces to capture some important and horrific events. Like we know, a time of struggle, sorrow, and misery, always creates some amazing artists. Art is being used by humans to express feelings and process the happenings and to capture important, as well as less important events for the future population.
Today I have chosen some paintings and drawings from this time, about this time and let me warn you. It is not something for the emotional persons among us.
1. Alan Moore
Moore was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1914 and in 1942, he enlisted with
the RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force), where his job was to draw airplane
diagrams. He could not be in the actual crew, due to having some physical
issues. In 1943, he was recommended by some fellow artists to be an official
war artist. That was absolutely a great recommendation and during his travels
through all parts of the world, he created some impressive and very emotional
paintings and drawings.
Moore accompanied the British Army to the Concentration camp in
Bergen-Belsen in Germany during the liberation of the camp. He was
recommended to take some pictures with a camera, because no one would ever
believe the horror he will see. That was a true statement, and like you can see
in this painting. It is not something for the faint-hearted and must have been
an absolute horrific and unbelievable sight.
This painting is called "Blind man in Belsen" and was created in 1947 in Melbourne, Australia. It was two years after the liberation, when it was painted with photographs and sketches from his visit in 1945.
You can see the corpses of the poor souls, which sadly never have made it out of this hell hole, the Concentration camp. Some starved to death, others died from illnesses but most died from both or through murder. You can see how skeleton like the bodies look like and it what horrible conditions everyone was, for which I just have no words.
The blind Man in the middle of the painting has a bandaged head and arm and is walking with his cane through the "sea" of corpses. Right behind him, you can see another person, looking very malnutritioned and wrapped into a long coat. In the background can be seen some more people from the camp and some look like the British Solders working on freeing everyone. The clouds add a very depressing flair and the brown, beige, black and grey colors he used, accentuate the overall feeling and the horrible situation.
In my teenager years, I have been at this camp with my high school class
and even if most buildings have been demolished, the pain and sorrow still can be felt for some reason. It is a constant sad and depressing feeling
while wandering between the main quarters and past the gas champers.
The feeling is indescribable.
- SS troops,
unloading the death wagon
Another painting from him, shows this image of SS troops,
unloading the death wagon in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, Germany on
the day of its liberation. This is one of his sketches from his field studies,
drawn with pencil and watercolor, and black ink on paper.
It shows the SS guards removing corpses from the back of a
truck for burial in a mass grave. In the background can be seen armed British
guards and other internees watching them from behind the wired fence of the
camp.
The colors are again dark and depressing with its brown,
beige and black tones and a lot of shading. Which again, brings out the horror
of the situation even more.
Even if the subject of the paintings is very dark and
depressing, I really love the style of Moore's art and I think he had a lot of
talent.
2. Anthony Gross
Gross was born in
1905, in Dulwich, London and was another war artist, traveling with the British
Army through the world and capturing many important moments of the World War 2
era.
He accompanied the
D-Day invasion of Northern France, where he sketched the beachhead landings.
Gross recorded a lot of major events, like the devastation of Bayeux and Caen,
and followed the Allies into Paris and Germany.
- Jig Beach looking towards Le Hamel
One of his sketches
is "Jig Beach looking towards Le Hamel" from the 7th of June 1944. It
is the moment, when he landed at Gold Beach near Bayeux with the 50th Division,
while he waited to get to land, he made this pencil sketch of the troops,
disembarking on the beaches.
If I am honest, I do not like his sketches and can barely
recognize anything on his art pieces. They are not incredibly detailed, which
is understandable since he was right in the middle of the events. However, I
preferred Moore's idea, to sketch and photograph the scenes and perfectionate
the paintings later.
- Final Stages of
the German War: Krupp's Works at Essen
Another one of his drawings is called "Final Stages of
the German War: Krupp's Works at Essen" from 1945.
The sketch shows the Krupp steelworks in Essen,
Germany, a gunsmith’s shop, which was the largest industrial company in the
German empire right before this time. Krupp was heavily involved in weapons
manufacturing for the SS troops and Hitler allowed him to use an estimated
100,000 slave laborers from the concentration camps. The fabric was heavily
bombarded during the war and at the end of the war, the Brits dismantled the
rest of it and sold everything as war reparations.
Krupp was spoken guilty for crimes against humanity and
condemned to 12 years in prison. On the drawing can be seen the remains of the
Krupp factory after it was destroyed and dismantled in 1945 and was done at the
scene, in Essen. Gross uses the same style, colors, and technique with this work,
but it is a little clearer and the story behind it is interesting.
3. LS Lowry (aka Laurence Stephen Lowry)
Lowry was an English artist and was born 1887 in Stretford. He was
never a full-time artist, however, he took evening classes in painting and
drawing at the Salford School of Art and Municipal College of Art, under the
French Impressionist, Adolphe Valette. A lot of people thought that he was a self-taught
artist, which was far from the truth.
Lowry captured a lot of the modern life in an urban landscape and never
adopted an Impressionist technique or color range. He claimed to use only five
colors, vermilion, ivory black, Prussian blue, yellow ochre, and flake white. (christies.com)
"After the Blitz" is one of his paintings during the World War 2
area in 1942 and shows a street scene in Manchester, United Kingdom, after the
bombing of some buildings.
Lowry was working as a fire-watcher in Manchester during this time, so he was
always one of the first one to be at the location. He painted the scenes while
the buildings were still burning and smoking.
The picture clearly shows the mentioned colors he has claimed to be using
and it shows the destroyed buildings and the smoke in the background. The
people are in action to look for survivors and to start the clean-up and a
firefighter in the front is giving directions to the rest of the team.
Another one of his painting was the "Blitzed Site", also from 1942. What I
find interesting is, that this is a picture above another picture. He
painted over one of his art school studies and reused the canvas. That
was discovered during an X-ray examination. I call this being sufficient.
One can clearly see the desperate residents in the middle, on the right side, leaning against the ruins and some in the back, who seem to go through the rubble to possibly find survivors and/or the remains of their belongings. They might also be the crew cleaning up the destroyed area.
The man in front has a surprised look on his face, and a few flames can be still seen in the background, plus a lot of smoke. I like how he used the colors to highlight some of the items, which also makes it despite the desperate situation very pleasant to look at.
I really love his style and paintings, especially the colors he used
and the real subjects at the right time on the right place.
I like all of the shown art pieces, however, i prefer Moore and Lowry over the work from Gross. No matter what, it was really important to capture those horrible times to make sure that it will never be forgotten.
Stay safe everyone and thank you for reading.
Sylvia
Works cited:
“The Art of World War II - Google Arts & Culture.” Google, Google, artsandculture.google.com/usergallery/kgLCucQL-JTiLA.
“Exhibition Theme - Captivity.” Canadian War Museum: Canada's National Museum of Military History, www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhibitions/artwar/artworks/art27620_blind-man-in-belsen_e.html.
“1905 - 1984 | Anthony Gross | War Artists | West End at War.” , Cassi Plate, 31 Oct. 2012, www.westendatwar.org.uk/page_id__167.aspx?path=0p4p.
Friedrich Krupp A.G., Borbeck Plant, Essen, Germany. Munitions Division. Dates of Survey: 25 April to 3 May 1945 .. 1947.
Tate. “'Final Stages of the German War: Krupp's Works at Essen', Anthony Gross, 1945.” Tate, 1 Jan. 1970, www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/gross-final-stages-of-the-german-war-krupps-works-at-essen-n05701.
